Alicia Keys has offered an uncommon glimpse into her 16-year marriage to Swizz Beatz, revealing that the couple say they have never had a fight.
The 45-year-old singer married the 48-year-old rapper and producer in 2010. They are parents to two sons, Egypt, 16, and Genesis, 11.
In a striking Vogue Italia feature, Swizz explained that he and Keys made a conscious decision not to repeat the family patterns they experienced growing up, when arguments between their parents often involved shouting.
“We never argued, we never raised our voices,” Swizz said. “And if we have different opinions, we talk about it like adults, over dinner.”
“We both grew up with parents who yelled and we know what a child feels in that environment.”
“Our children grow up with a completely different energy and it’s one of the things we’re most proud of.”
Alicia Keys has opened up about her 16-year marriage to Swizz Beatz, saying the couple have never fought
For Vogue Italia, Swizz Beatz discussed the couple’s decision to create a calmer home than the ones they knew as children
Keys also described some of the everyday moments she shares with her sons, including board games and games of ping pong.
“It allows me to disconnect from my phone and live in the moment with the people I love,” she said. “They say I’m competitive, but really I just want to have fun.”
She added: “For me, simplicity is the key to everything: walking on the grass, being under the trees, listening to a good record. We have a vital need for simplicity that we too often forget.”
Despite their demanding careers, Keys said she and Swizz make time for a date night once a month. She also described her husband as “one of her safest places in the world.”
The couple appeared together in the accompanying photoshoot and have also worked together on Keys’ upcoming album, Lovers Rose, due for release in 2027.
Keys has recently spoken more openly about her childhood in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen and the effect of her father leaving when she was two years old.
At 13, the “Empire State Of Mind” singer wrote her father a painful letter in which she told him to stay out of her life.
In the letter, Keys expressed how “furious” she was over the failings of her father, Craig Cook, including his absence around the time of her birth.
Keys said she enjoys playing board games and ping pong with her two sons
The full interview appears in the November issue of Vogue Italia
Cook has also addressed his shortcomings in the film, acknowledging that he was “immature” when his daughter was born in 1981 and unable to accept the responsibilities of fatherhood.
Titled Alicia Keys: Girl From Hell’s Kitchen, the film is directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker One 9, whose previous biographies have focused on rapper Nas and former basketball star Allen Iverson.
Alicia told her father: ‘I don’t want anything. All I want is for you to mind your business. I don’t want the phone calls, I don’t want the letters, I don’t want the fake acts that you pull to try and make me think you care. I don’t want anything. That’s the only way you can make me happy.’
Cook says that today ‘I don’t know if I can read it (the letter)’ because it is so painful.’
The impasse between the two lasted until Keys was writing and producing her 2024 Broadway show Hell’s Kitchen, which was loosely based on her life.
Read the full interview in the November issue of Vogue Italia.
